This week we told you about the Syracuse University professor embroiled in controversy for a series of tweets about the September 11 terror attacks. Despite calls for her firing, university leaders said that would not happen.
Maxwell School professor Jenn Jackson's tweets sparked massive backlash online, but the university said her comments were protected free speech.
However, one year ago, their response was different when a Chemistry professor included controversial language in a course syllabus.
We are laying out both cases so you can decide if the university made the right call.
A Syracuse University spokesperson claims Professor Jackson was not disciplined, in part, because her controversial tweet about 9/11 was made on her personal Twitter account, and she was speaking as a private citizen.
The university claims it reviews these on a case-by-case basis and refers to its anti-harassment policy and faculty manual. We reviewed that faculty manual and found no mention of social media. Read Syracuse University's Faculty Manual. You can also read the university's section on Academic Freedom.
"This is a free speech right that we all have. Just like critics have the right to criticize her, question the thoughts and question the analysis and question the message," Roy Gutterman - Tully Center for Free Speech, Newhouse School
The university defines harassment as being "unwelcome conduct or speech directed at an individual or group of individuals, based on a protected category, which is so severe or pervasive that it unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, terms of employment, educational program participation, or it creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment for study, work, or social living."
Protected category is those with characteristics protected by law including one's "race, color, religions, gender, national origin, citizenship or veteran status" among other categories.
According to SU's Chancellor, Professor Jenn Jackson was receiving threats that required federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to be contacted.
On Friday, September 10, Professor Jackson sent a series of tweets, saying this:
The university states its policies protect this speech.
A professor suspended last year for writing "Wuhan Virus" on a course syllabus tells CNYCentral he supports protecting Jackson's speech as well. But Professor Jon Zubieta adds, "The university's support of freedom of speech is quite dependent on the position of that speech on the wokeness spectrum."
"Maybe they were just getting sick of the negative publicity for censoring people in the past. That is not a good look for a university," said Adam Steinbaugh, Director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). "It doesn't help the university and their accreditation requires that they protect freedom of speech. So they may have done the wrong thing in the past, but it's good to see them doing the right thing now."
This is creating a lot of discussion on social media. We have laid out all of the facts and policies and invite you to decide if you think the university is handling this appropriately.